For parents exploring alternative education options in South Africa, the decision between homeschooling and online schooling is a crucial one. While they may seem similar, homeschooling and online schooling differ significantly in structure, academic support, and regulatory recognition.

Read more: Why online learning is the future of education in South Africa

Understanding the key differences between homeschooling and online schooling

Who is responsible for teaching?

Homeschooling parents take responsibility for lesson planning, teaching, conducting assessments, and record-keeping. Effectively, the parent becomes the teacher, requiring a significant amount of time, expertise, and subject knowledge.

With online schooling, qualified teachers take care of lesson planning, teaching, conducting assessments and record-keeping. Parents are still encouraged to be involved in their child's learning journey, but are not required to teach their child.

Teneo School's academic team of over 240 expert teachers, subject specialists and academic leaders support learners from the comfort of home, and every lesson is led by SACE-qualified teachers who understand how each learner learns best. This means that every learner is empowered to achieve provably better results.

• Our qualified teachers plan and present engaging online lessons designed to engage learners, regardless of their learning style. Teneo School’s next-gen learning platform combines artificial intelligence, behavioural science, and gamified learning to track progress and ensure learners stay motivated.
• We offer a fully supported academic experience as our top academic team conducts and marks all tasks, tests and examinations. They bring lessons to life, guiding your learner through their learning journey.
• Teneo’s Smart School System™ brings together the best of human teaching with effective motivation and actionable insights in one connected platform, creating a smarter, more inclusive school that drives measurable improvement, enabled through smart technology. Teachers, learners and parents have instant visibility into progress driven by the Smart School System™, enabling human-led, data-informed, digitally-enabled teaching and oversight.
• The results are transformational. Learners improve their average marks by 12% in the first year, and 25% by year four. After just two years, learners are 60% more likely to pass, with pass rates doubling within five years. Over 3 500 learners have successfully matriculated with Teneo School. Learners with self-reported learning barriers and neurodiversity show similar or greater improvements, proving through innovation that academic success and inclusivity can coexist at scale.

Learn more about our academic approach and Smart School System™ here.

Curriculum, accreditation, and regulation

One of the major considerations parents face when considering homeschooling is whether the curriculum they choose aligns with the standards set by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) and how to conduct assessments in a way that ensures the validity of the learner's results, often requiring external providers for formal assessments. Homeschooling learners of compulsory school-going age must be registered with their local Provincial Education Department (PED), and strict regulations apply.

On the other hand, when you enrol your child at Teneo School, you can be assured of the following.

• All of our assessments, tests and exams are set and marked by our SACE-registered teachers, according to South Africa's Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS).
• Formal assessments are completed online using a proctoring tool that allows assessments to be written in a controlled and monitored environment, ensuring academic integrity and the credibility of assessment scores.
• Teneo learners receive a report card at the end of each term.
• Teneo School is officially listed as one of the online school institutions approved by both IEB and SACAI, under their concession for certification of learners with Umalusi, for Teneo learners to write their final Grade 12 NSC examinations.

We are the only online school in South Africa to be registered with three top examination boards (SACAI, IEB, and Pearson Edexcel), enabling your child to matriculate with a South African National Senior Certificate and apply to tertiary institutions, both locally and abroad.

Find out more about Teneo School’s accreditation here.

What does the BELA Bill mean for online schools?

The BELA Bill does not change the regulatory position regarding online schools. Online schooling continues to operate as a separate category pending the finalisation of the regulatory framework for online schools. Teneo School will continue to operate in the same way under the existing permissions and rules in place between the examination boards (SACAI and IEB) and Umalusi as the accrediting authority.

Teneo: The Smarter School

With Teneo School, you get the flexibility of online learning without needing to navigate lesson plans, teaching, and marking assessments! Teneo learners receive structured, accredited education from expert teachers in a fully supported online learning environment. Teneo’s Smart School System™ is redefining what modern schooling can be: Flexible, intelligent, and human.

Want to learn more? Explore our virtual open day anytime, anywhere and experience the difference!